A duo of strange bed­fel­lows in­tro­duced le­gis­la­tion Thursday that would sig­ni­fic­antly re­form — and re­duce in scope — the re­new­able fuel stand­ard, a man­date that re­quires in­creas­ingly large amounts of bio­fuels to be blen­ded with gas­ol­ine.

The bill, in­tro­duced by Sens. Di­anne Fein­stein, D-Cal­if., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., would elim­in­ate the corn-eth­an­ol por­tion of the RFS but re­tain the smal­ler man­dates that re­quire volumes of ad­vanced bio­fuels not de­rived from feed­stock, such as cel­lu­losic. Fein­stein and Coburn have worked to­geth­er in the past on elim­in­at­ing sub­sidies for the corn-eth­an­ol in­dustry.

In a rar­ity for en­ergy policy, this le­gis­la­tion is at­tract­ing sup­port right out of the gate from both sides of the aisle. Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Bob Cork­er, R-Tenn., Kay Hagan, D-N.C., Jeff Flake, R-Ar­iz., Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., are also co­spon­sors.

An­oth­er un­likely pair — Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Dav­id Vit­ter, R-La. — is work­ing on sep­ar­ate le­gis­la­tion that also seeks to keep the ad­vanced-bio­fuels goals of the pro­gram in­tact while re­mov­ing al­to­geth­er or re­du­cing the corn-eth­an­ol part. Tim­ing on this le­gis­la­tion is un­clear, a spokes­per­son for Cardin said Wed­nes­day.

The RFS, en­acted in 2005 and strengthened sig­ni­fic­antly in 2007, re­quires re­finers to blend 16.55 bil­lion gal­lons of bio­fuels in 2013. Most of that — 13 bil­lion — will be corn eth­an­ol. The man­date has come un­der in­tense scru­tiny from a di­verse group of stake­hold­ers, ran­ging from the oil and re­fin­ing in­dus­tries, to live­stock and food groups, to en­vir­on­ment­al­ists.

After dither­ing on the is­sue for much of this year, the Sen­ate held its first hear­ing on the man­date Wed­nes­day, in the Sen­ate En­vir­on­ment and Pub­lic Works Com­mit­tee.

Chair­wo­man Bar­bara Box­er, D-Cal­if., in­dic­ated she won’t sup­port ma­jor re­form to the policy. “As chair­man of this com­mit­tee, and I have the gavel for now, I’m not go­ing to let us re­verse course…. I’m just not,” she said.

“No pro­gram is per­fect, that’s for sure, whatever it is; even in the private sec­tor, no new product is per­fect and no new mar­ket­ing strategy is per­fect at first. So we’ve got to work to­geth­er, and I’m will­ing to do that. But I just think, over­all, let’s not turn our back on a way to make sure we can be­come more en­ergy in­de­pend­ent and have a bet­ter en­vir­on­ment in the long run,” Box­er ad­ded.

Mean­while, House En­ergy and Com­merce Com­mit­tee Chair­man Fred Up­ton, R-Mich., and rank­ing mem­ber Henry Wax­man, D-Cal­if., have been jointly work­ing on the RFS since March.

"President Trump signed a sweeping spending bill Friday afternoon, averting another partial government shutdown. The action came after Trump had declared a national emergency in a move designed to circumvent Congress and build additional barriers at the southern border, where he said the United States faces 'an invasion of our country.'"

Source:

REDIRECTS $8 BILLION

Trump Declares National Emergency

6 days ago

THE DETAILS

"President Donald Trump on Friday declared a state of emergency on the southern border and immediately direct $8 billion to construct or repair as many as 234 miles of a border barrier. The move — which is sure to invite vigorous legal challenges from activists and government officials — comes after Trump failed to get the $5.7 billion he was seeking from lawmakers. Instead, Trump agreed to sign a deal that included just $1.375 for border security."

Source:

COULD SOW DIVISION AMONG REPUBLICANS

House Will Condemn Emergency Declaration

1 weeks ago

THE DETAILS

"House Democrats are gearing up to pass a joint resolution disapproving of President Trump’s emergency declaration to build his U.S.-Mexico border wall, a move that will force Senate Republicans to vote on a contentious issue that divides their party. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Thursday evening in an interview with The Washington Post that the House would take up the resolution in the coming days or weeks. The measure is expected to easily clear the Democratic-led House, and because it would be privileged, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would be forced to put the resolution to a vote that he could lose."

Source:

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, DRUG FORFEITURE FUND

Where Will the Emergency Money Come From?

1 weeks ago

THE DETAILS

"ABC News has learned the president plans to announce on Friday his intention to spend about $8 billion on the border wall with a mix of spending from Congressional appropriations approved Thursday night, executive action and an emergency declaration. A senior White House official familiar with the plan told ABC News that $1.375 billion would come from the spending bill Congress passed Thursday; $600 million would come from the Treasury Department's drug forfeiture fund; $2.5 billion would come from the Pentagon's drug interdiction program; and through an emergency declaration: $3.5 billion from the Pentagon's military construction budget."

Source:

TRUMP SAYS HE WILL SIGN

House Passes Funding Deal

1 weeks ago

THE DETAILS

"The House passed a massive border and budget bill that would avert a shutdown and keep the government funded through the end of September. The Senate passed the measure earlier Thursday. The bill provides $1.375 billion for fences, far short of the $5.7 billion President Trump had demanded to fund steel walls. But the president says he will sign the legislation, and instead seek to fund his border wall by declaring a national emergency."